Kendall Plant grew up in Cranbrook near College of the Rockies’ main campus and loved the idea of being able to study close to home. Always fascinated with science, it was performing fetal pig dissections in high school that convinced her biology was the focus for her. The University Science program offered at the College was the perfect fit.
“The tight-knit community at the College made me feel comfortable as I began my post-secondary education,” she said. “I took all the first-year science courses but it was the genetics course that helped me realize that microbial life excited me most.”
After two years of science courses at College of the Rockies, Kendall transferred to the University of Victoria to complete her bachelor’s degree in microbiology. She completed a co-op with the BC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences, a non-profit research and diagnostic facility on Vancouver Island, as a diagnostic virology technician. After completing her degree, she was offered the opportunity to return to their lab in Campbell River, B.C.
As lead qPCR technician, Kendall was part of a team of individuals who strive to better aquatic life and ecosystems, in conjunction with academic institutions and government bodies.
After short term position at BC Children’s Hospital’s Biobank as a technician responsible for collecting samples from consenting patients and processing them for storage for future research projects and with the Hospital Research Institute/UBC as part of the Clinical Research Development Laboratory (CRDL), Kendall became the research coordinator and technician for the Elango Laboratory at the Research Institute. The lab specializes in protein and amino acid requirements at different stages of the life-cycle, with the goal of studying human nutrition in historically underrepresented groups including menstruating, pregnant and lactating women. Kendall supports the students and volunteers in the lab doing this work, and maintains the lab’s biosafety safety, ethics, training etc.
Kendall also has her own projects, conducting research focused on inborn errors of metabolism and human milk nutrition. She works with the BC Children’s Hospital Biochemical Genetics Clinic to either do studies directly with patients and their families, or do proof-of-concept studies with healthy adults in the hope of identifying interventions that may one day help those kids. Kendall and her colleagues specialize in non-invasive stable isotope based techniques that can be used as diagnostic tools to measure effectiveness of new treatment and management modalities. For her human milk work she is able to analyze human milk for its macronutrient content (fat,carbs, protein, calories) with the goal of supporting the needs of various children within the NICU and PICU.
In May 2025, Kendall marked a milestone by attending her first academic conference and is on the cusp of publishing her research.
Kendall feels her start at College of the Rockies played a big part in helping her to get to where she is today.
“Attending the College for the first couple years of my education made me a more confident learner,” she said. “The smaller class sizes and more intimate setting allowed me to discover more about myself and my style of learning before attending a much larger institution. The College’s main campus is beautiful and is filled with staff who genuinely care about your success.”
Learn more about College of the Rockies’ University Arts and Sciences program.